Trigger Points

Steffen Mau is Director at the Max Planck Institute of Political and Social Science and Professor of Macrosociology at Humboldt-University of Berlin.Thomas Lux is Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Political and Social Science.Linus Westheuser is Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Political and Social Science.

‘Trigger Points is truly a tour de force: The authors develop a radically innovative and persuasive argument with broad implications for rethinking the polarization of contemporary societies. While their focus is on inequality, cleavages and boundaries in Germany, their analysis will help us understand other societies in the context of the growing influence of the radical right. Their book deserves a broad hearing by social scientists everywhere.’ Michèle Lamont, Harvard University‘We live in a moment when claims of polarization and democratic breakdown often outrun the facts. Trigger Points restores analytical clarity. Grounded in exceptional empirical research and animated by a deep concern for democracy, it explains why certain issues ignite conflict—and why democracies are more resilient than we are often told. A major bestseller in Germany, this book is sure to have broad international resonance for all of our democracies as they face new and old perils.’ Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard University

• Foreword by Mike Savage1. Introduction2. Arenas of Inequality Conflicts3. Top–Bottom Inequalities4. Inside–Outside Inequalities5. Us–Them Inequalities6. Today–Tomorrow Inequalities7. Trigger Points8. The Social Space of Inequality Conflicts9. Affect and Structure10. The Political Space of Inequality Conflicts11. Politicization and Conflict in Contemporary Society